Characterisation of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus aureus – like strains isolated from table eggs

The aim of the study was to provide a detailed phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of Staphylococcus aureus strains and the group of microorganisms with unusual biochemical patterns (called Staphylococcus aureus-like) isolated from table chicken eggs. All of the strains tested exhibited resistance to at least one of the 17 antibiotics tested, and 55.55% of isolates were found to be resistant to five or more of them. PCR used for detection of the methicillin resistance gene (mecA) confirmed the presence of a specific product of 533 bp in the case of two of the isolated S. aureus-like strains. Analysis of the phylogenetic relationship between eight of S. aureus and ten S. aureus-like strains distinguished 18 macrorestriction profiles following digestion with SmaI endonuclease, indicating that there were no identical strains with the same macrorestriction profile. However, the presence of methicillin-resistant strains indicates a serious risk to consumer health.